Seres is a longtime partner of Huawei and not an OEM, local media quoted a source at Sokon, which owns the brand, as saying.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

After Huawei recently unveiled its first model under the AITO brand, there were rumors that the tech giant's partner in the automotive sector, Chongqing Sokon's Seres brand, was only its OEM. This was denied by the automaker.

Seres is a longtime partner of Huawei and not an OEM, the Shanghai Securities News said today, citing a Sokon source.

Seres announced on December 2 the launch of a premium smart car brand called AITO, which means "Adding Intelligence to Auto".

Huawei held its winter launch event on December 23, announcing the Wenjie M5, the first model under the AITO brand.

AITO Wenjie M5 orders exceeded 2,000 units in three days in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Chengdu, the four cities that already have show cars, Shanghai Securities News said on December 28, citing Seres sources.

There are rumors recently that Huawei has a lot of say in the AITO Wenjie M5 and Seres is just an OEM.

Shanghai Securities News today quoted the Sokon source as saying that Seres is responsible for the AITO Wenjie M5's R&D, manufacturing, delivery, service and creating a full lifecycle car experience, while Huawei is deeply involved in product definition, quality control and sales.

This is Huawei's practice of helping car companies build and sell cars, the person said.

Seres and Huawei are in a long-term relationship, and the possibility of cooperation in new technologies, products and areas will not be ruled out, the person said.

Huawei officially announced on April 20 that it will start selling cars in its flagship stores, with the first model being the Seres SF5 SUV from Sokon, which uses extended-range technology similar to that used by Li Auto's Li ONE.

In an October report, local media outlet Auto Report said the Seres SF5 was largely finalized by the time it was picked up by Huawei, and the company had limited room to play with it, offering only a few intelligent components.

That made the Seres SF5 less Huawei-like in nature, and it was even referred to as "Huawei Outside," the report said.

AITO M5, built by Huawei and Seres, reportedly gets over 2,000 orders in 3 days